Sean Carlson: Live from Summer Stage in Central Park, you're listening to WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. This is the WNYC and Friends Centennial Celebration.

[applause]

Sean Carlson: That's right. It has been 100 years, give or take just a few weeks, since WNYC first began its mission to bring our listeners critical news and thoughtful conversations. To celebrate, we wanted to throw this little shindig here. First things first, though, let's bring out our host for the evening and our host every weekday from 10:00 AM to noon. You know him, WNYC's Mr. Brian Lehrer.

Brian Lehrer: Hello, Central Park and thank you, thank you, thank you. Welcome, everyone, to WNYC's 100th birthday celebration. Hello, first of all, to our Central Park Summer Stage audience. Give yourselves a round of applause.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: You could be watching opening night of the New York Jets, but you chose us and are you thinking what I'm thinking? Wow, this is what you look like?

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: And you know people, that's how you dress to be at somebody's party? Really? How did your parents raise you? Now, we don't have cake for everyone, sorry but we will have WNYC t-shirts, this t-shirt, which you can get for a donation over there. Or we will be giving some away along with other WNYC swag. We'll explain how when we get to those parts of the show and hello to all the people in the radio audience.

You talk more quietly to the people in the radio audience because they listen one at a time in your bathrooms and your kitchens and your cars. You know that, right? Those of you in the radio audience who are very confused right now because you're used to hearing All Things Considered at this time every weekday, so some of you are thinking, what the heck is this silliness? Well, if you're that much of a news junkie, you can go to CNN for the next two hours, that's up to you.

But if you hang around to party with us, you will be hearing some friends and special guests. And for you in the Central Park Summer Stage audience, let the radio listeners know what you think. We will have Ira Glass, host and creator of This American Life.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Brooke Gladstone and Michael Lowinger, the co-hosts of On the Media will be here.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: And wait until you see the performance art piece they have cooked up On the Media like you've never heard it before. Our new Sounds and Soundcheck Music host John Schaeffer will be here, the host of All of It, weekdays from noon to 2:00, my remarkable midday colleague Alison Stewart.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Storyteller Gabrielle Shea from the Moth.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: And we have some special musical guests. Mxm, toon, nada, surf, lori Anderson, and Sexmob.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: And joining me now on stage, and I am so starstruck, I don't know if I can get through this, please welcome members of the cast of the Broadway smash hit Freestyle Love Supreme.

[MUSIC- Freestyle Love Supreme]

?Speaker: What is up Summer Stage?

[applause]

Jelly: Oh, my God look at all the sexy nerds out tonight. Yes, I love it. Thank you, Brian. Brian send me your Freestyle Love Supreme. We are the Broadway freestyle improv hip-hop group started by Lin Manuel Miranda, Anthony Venenziali, Tommy Kael, over 20 years ago. We're old too, WNYC. We're so excited to be here. We're going to make up a little music for you. Brian, you want to help us out with that?

Brian Lehrer: Well, I know your act is interactive. Explain to everybody in the Central Park audience and the listening audience how this works.

Jelly: Okay, well, anytime we do a show, whether it's on Broadway or here at Summer Stage, we're going to take suggestions from you in just a moment and maybe you, Brian, and just make this up off the top of our heads. This is New York. Y'all know how freestyle works. Come on. But before we even get into the freestyle thing, every time we do this, it has to start with the foundation, and that is the beats.

[beat boxing]

Jelly: Give it up for one of our founding members, Shockwave, Mr. Chris Sullivan. Now, Brian, once we have that amazing beat, then we need words and I'm going to put somebody on the hot seat.

Speaker 2: Who?

Jelly: She is representing Bronx, the birthplace of hip hop.

Speaker 3: Bronx, baby.

Jelly: please put some hands together, make a little bit of noise for one of the dopest rhymers I've ever had the privilege of rhyming with. It is the 2023 world freestyle champion, Dizzy Senze. Because this is freestyle Brian, we need some words. And I heard that you have some words for Dizzy that we have no idea what they are. Now, we're going to put you on the spot to feed those words to Dizzy, who will instantaneously incorporate them over the beat provided by Shockwave. Dizzy, are you ready?

Dizzy: No.

Jelly: Brian, are you ready?

Brian Lehrer: Definitely not.

Jelly: Perfect. That's improvisation.

Speaker 2: What about them Jelly, are they ready?

Jelly: Hey, what's up, Summer Stage? You ready?

Speaker 2: Yeah. That's what I thought. All right.

Jelly: Well, as long as ya'll are ready. Hey, Brian, whenever you're ready, you can drop that first word.

Brian Lehrer: All right. First word. Radio.

Dizzy Senze: The first word he gave me, I played with yo is what you're listening to right now, the radio. And if you don't know, that would be me. You hear these rhymes on WNYC.

Brian Lehrer: Second word. Birthday.

Dizzy Senze: Okay, I remember back in the first grade, July 1, that was my birthday. So if I have to wrap this in a stanza, my birthday is July 1, and I'm a cancer.

Brian Lehrer: Third word. Jazz.

Dizzy Senze: Okay, give me a word that got some pizzazz or maybe it's a swing time, a little bit of jazz. Feeling right now, like I'm about to get. No, I feel dizzy like a lepsi.

Brian Lehrer: Fourth word, Jersey.

Dizzy Senze: Okay, this next word. I am not worthy. I am from the Bronx, not Jersey. Either way, I steal the American dream. You get my name and number. Like a jersey on a team.

Brian Lehrer: And the fifth word is apple.

Dizzy Senze: This next word gives me a little bit of a grapple. I like the kiwi strawberry snapple. I know you thought that's where the word was going to have to go, but we're in the big Apple.

Brian Lehrer: 6th and last word. Nada.

Dizzy Senze: Nada. This is Central park. Nada plaza. The devil wears prada, but they also wear nada. Over here this my medulla oblongata where I'm getting these words and spitting it like lava. All of the time they see me on stage it raps out my mental and not off the page. They say, man, this the world champion. Well, it's Freestyle Love Supreme coming for the way.

Speaker 2: Make some noise for Dizzy Senze.

[applause]

Jelly: Make some noise for Brian Lehrer.

Speaker 2: Brian.

[applause]

Jelly: Thank you, Brian. Appreciate you right now. A member [inaudible 00:09:31]. Dizzy does all this looking so good. I'm sorry everyone at home, you cannot see her.

Does all this work with looking so good? I'm sorry, everyone listening at home, you cannot see her. Hey, let's do one more thing, and we need the audience for this one. There's a song that we've done on Broadway a number of times called True, where we're going to share true stories about our own lives but I want to base it on a word that comes from you and because we're here to celebrate the incredible WNYC, that means so many things to so many people, I want you to think of a word that represents something you love about WNYC.

Whatever creative word comes to mind, there's no wrong answers, but you will have to shout them at me. Raise your hand maybe if you've got one. Yes, right here.

Audience Member: Airy edition.

Jelly: Airy edition? Beautiful. I knew we were going to get something special from the NPR crowd. Yes, back there. Nice and loud.

Audience Member: Community.

Jelly: Community. In front of community?

Audience Member: Voices.

Jelly: Voices. Lovely. Yes, right here.

Audience Member: Truth.

Jelly: Truth. Okay. Yes, we can use some of that in the world today. You're just taking your jacket off. That's not a hand, right? Oh, right there.

Audience Member: Radio.

Jelly: Radio. Beautiful. How about over here? Yeah.

Audience Member: Informative.

Jelly: Yeah. Love it. Back there.

Audience Member: Brian Lehrer.

Jelly: Brian Lehrer. [laughs] Love it. Yes, right here.

Audience Member: Important.

Jelly: Important. Yes, and one more back there.

Audience Member: Peace.

Jelly: Peace. Oh, these are all incredible. I love all of them. Honestly, the first one that really struck me in the center of my heart was the word "voices". The word is voices. Everything you're about to hear is true.

[MUSIC - Freestyle Love Supreme: True]

Jelly: Thank you, WNYC. We are Freestyle Love Supreme. I think it's time for a little bit of WNYC trivia. One more time. We're bringing Brian Lehrer. Thank you.

[beat boxing]

Brian Lehrer: Freestyle Love Supreme. I can almost identify with what they did just now. There's a lot of improv when you're making live radio every day, but I get to use notes and no one expects me to rhyme when I'm covering the presidential race. One more time for the talents, the amazing talents of Freestyle Love Supreme.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: All right. At the Brian Lehrer Show, we love playing trivia with listeners as part of what we do on the air from time to time and so as part of this birthday party, we're going to do three short trivia games, 100-year history games of sorts and with some WNYC birthday party swagger to give away here at Summer Stage, listeners on the radio, you can follow along and see how many you get right.

We'll have one contestant from the audience up here on stage with me for each round, they will play on behalf of the whole live audience here at Central Park tonight. So person, whoever you are, we're about to meet, no pressure. When they get the answer right, my esteemed colleagues Jennifer, Simon, and Ricardo will use their slingshot. Yes, they have a slingshot to send some WNYC souvenirs into the crowd. Is this the new centennial t-shirt with the 1937 Green Point transmitter, that shirt that I'm wearing?

Your overalls are so cool, by the way but if that sounds good, and yes, if you don't get it from the slingshot, you can visit my colleagues Liz and Dan at the WNYC membership table. They'll be happy to receive your donation. I had to say that to WNYC to help keep public radio going as an alternative to corporate media for another 100 years. They have these t-shirts and other merch to thank you with. All right, now for the trivia. The topic for our first trivia game tonight is New York City critters. Sean, do we have a contestant?

Sean Carlson: Sure do, Brian. Everybody give it up for Jeff H.

[applause]

Sean Carlson: Jeff H is from Nolita/Bowery. He's been a WNYC listener for 10 years. His favorite program is On the Media. Fun fact, Jeff H can do a cartwheel. I don't know if you want to see that. [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: All right, you ready?

Jeff H: I'm ready.

Brian Lehrer: Question one.

Jeff H: I'm ready.

Brian Lehrer: Some of them eat pizza, some are inflated at strike sites. They have their own czar in city government, and there are some 3 million of them in New York City and maybe some crawling around in our audience tonight, though I hope not. I'm talking about.

Jeff H: Rats. But like the famous pizza rats. Yes, rats.

Brian Lehrer: Rats is right.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: One t-shirt slung into the audience. Question two. When we see this creature on the sidewalk, we stomp on it and kill it per the government's instructions.

Jeff H: It's an invasive species of the bug. I don't know the name. Invasion species. The invasive species bug. I don't know.

Sean: Can we do that?

Brian Lehrer: They would light up.

Sean Carlson: Oh, sorry, Jeff H. The wheel says no.

Jeff H: The invasive species bug.

Sean Carlson: The answer is spotted lantern fly.

Jeff H: Spotted lantern. Invasive.

Brian Lehrer: Question four. A beloved red or whatever I'm up to question something. A beloved-- I lost track already. It's only 20 minutes into the show. A beloved red-tailed hawk lived right here in and around Central Park from the 1990s until his death in 2023. His name was A, Bambi, B, Rudy Giuliani or C, Pale male,

Jeff H: C, Pale Male.

Brian Lehrer: That was a wild guess. Slingshot. Whoa, you have good range, Simon. Very good. All right, here's question three, which I skipped before. This creature has a holiday, and we like to think it predicts the weather. Obviously, it's the groundhog. That's not the answer to the question. Do you know the name of the famous groundhog from Staten Island. Was it Punxsutawney Phil, Rudy Giuliani, or Staten Island Chuck?

Jeff H: I'm going to with C for Chuck. No, A.

Audience: No.

Sean Carlson: What are you doing?

Jeff H: Jeez, I don't--

Brian Lehrer: Is your guess A, Punxsutawney Phil?

Jeff H: C. Final answer. C for Chuck.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, we're going to let you switch C for Chuck because we have a lot of t shirts in our slingshots.

Jeff H: Yay.

Brian Lehrer: Last one. The rock dove is a common New York City animal with a population around a million. They are not indigenous and were probably brought here by European settlers in the 1600s. They are famous for being messengers, particularly during World War I and Jerry Seinfeld once said, we have a deal with these creatures. They get out of the way of our cars, we look the other way on the statue defecations. The common name for the rock dove is?

Jeff H: [unintelligible 00:23:23] text message. Pigeon.

Brian Lehrer: Pigeons is correct. Congratulations. You did great. You're going to get some WNYC swag as a thank you. Let's have a round of applause. All right. That was cool. And we have two rounds of trivia. A big reason why we're here tonight is to present and preserve the station's history, as you know, and the history of WNYC is not without drama. We asked some friends to boil down WNYC's century of survival. With a bit of imagination and poetic license, shall we say, please welcome the co-hosts of On the Media, Brooke Gladstone and Micah Lowinger.

Brooke Gladstone: Radio began its life at sea. In the early 1900s, ships on the ocean were still isolated in a world newly connected by telegraph and telephone cables with wireless technology. Finally, those lonely ships could send and receive Morse code. Radio evolved to carry the sounds of music and human voices and now people on land were desperate for radio. In 1923, the country had just been through a world war and the Spanish flu.

Prohibition was law and racial violence and xenophobia plagued the land. Here in New York, it had been only 25 years since Staten Island, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and reluctantly, Brooklyn were united into one big city. A silver jubilee was held to mark the occasion with one part of the exhibition devoted to the brand new technology of radio, inviting New Yorkers to imagine a station created just for them.

Micah Lowinger: All of this was due to a dapper fellow named Grover Whalen, New York City's commissioner of public works, sometimes called the father of WNYC. Hey, dad. Whalen was a man who was used to getting his way, but when it came to building New York its own radio station, he was frustrated. He had the money, but he couldn't build the transmitter because there was no one to do it.

Radio already had tech overlords by then, like General Electric, AT&T, and Westinghouse, and they were giving him the runaround. Whelan called them the Radio Trust, and he intended to bust them right after this demo broadcast at the Silver Jubilee. Now, unfortunately, there's no recording of Whalen's speech here, but we at On the Media did a little reenactment of this scene because we speculate.

Brooke Gladstone: Speculate?

Micah Lowinger: We speculate that this moment was very important for the future of what would become WNYC.

Speaker 4: Hey, is this what I speak into when broadcasting?

Speaker 5: Yes, sir Mr. Whalen.

Speaker 4: All right, you. You let me know when it's time. And what's your name?

Speaker 5: Raymond Astorson, sir. Lately of the navy.

Speaker 4: Well, engineer Ascherson, we're going to need some fine men like you when we finally get a transmitter and a license for land station. CONY.

Speaker 5: CONY? Now, what's that, Mr. Whalen?

Speaker 4: Well, that's our call sign. Of course. It'll be CONY for City of New York.

Speaker 5: That is not possible, sir. Under the Bureau of Navigation rules, the call sign must begin with a W.

Speaker 4: All right. Maybe we should call it WNYC if the radio trust ever lets me have a transmitter and I heard there was a second-hand one for sale in Brazil.

Speaker 5: Very good, sir. It's time for your speech, actually.

Speaker 4: All right. Thank you. Yes, the Department of Plant and Structures is a distinctly public institution, and its function is to preserve and make the operational works of the city available to all within the city departments and this great metropolis.

Speaker 5: I must have fallen asleep. The microphone. It's still on.

Speaker 6: Is it my turn?

Speaker 5: What is that signal? What is that voice? Mesmerizing.

Brooke Gladstone: All right, here I go. 100 years is a long time for any media company to survive, much less a non-profit, non-commercial station like WNYC.

Micah Lowinger: WNYC. 100 years.

Brooke Gladstone: And in a way, we have the station's first engineer to thank, Raymond Asserson, lately of the Navy.

Micah Lowinger: Raymond Asserson. That's me.

Brooke Gladstone: As a matter of fact, it was asserson who helped Whalen defy the corporate power of the radio trust and get that second-hand transmitter from Brazil. In 1924, assertion. Testified before the congressional committee on the Merchant Marine which oversaw radio--

Speaker 5: There ought to be at least one radio station in New York City under the control of the city and under the control of the officers elected by the people responsible to the people.

Brooke Gladstone: WNYC's first broadcast took place the night of July 8, 1924. They had a small budget, but there was no money for programming. WNYC had to borrow records from shops and private collectors. Other times, it relied on its music director, Herman Newman, to vamp some tunes on the studio piano.

Micah Lowinger: In between musical programs, WNYC tried to be useful to the people of New York. For a while, police used the station like an actual police radio, sending out coded and often not-so-coded alerts for suspects on the lam. Like a municipal C-SPAN, the station broadcast city council meetings and other public affairs, like the foreign language lessons with Professor Berlitz.

Professor Berlitz: [Portugese language].

Micah Lowinger: Listeners often heard from the city's Fire Chief.

Fire Chief: Suppose we file a fire prevention talk. Americans are paying an even higher price for carelessness. In New York City last year, the price was 130 lives. It's quiz time.

Micah Lowinger: WNYC offered recipes for leftover roast beef, it spread public health messages, and sometimes we even got to have some fun. Nerdy municipal fun.

Fire Chief: WNYC, the voice of the city again presents your city government. Every week, two teams from among 16 municipal departments vie against each other in our transcribed contest of civic facts and figures, a challenging quiz, and an informative public service.

Brooke Gladstone: But the more WNYC tried to be useful, the more politicians called it useless. Headlines noted that the station was sitting on increasingly valuable broadcasting real estate. By the mid-'30s, New York was a booming radio town. NBC and CBS offered up live menstrual shows. Yes, and music, soap operas, and a few high-minded dramas. But nothing like public radio existed in America and it wouldn't for decades. Little WNYC stood alone modest and useful, as mayor after mayor threatened to sell it off.

Rex Stone: With the power vested in me as the newly elected mayor of New York City, I, Fiorello H. La Guardia, now declare you, Seymour Siegel, to be the assistant Program director of station WNYC. Now go across the street and shut that joint down.

Seymor Siegel: Wow. Talk about a great depression. I finally get a decent job in radio, and now I have to put myself out of work. Why should I shut this joint down? It's a little tattered, but people love WNYC. Plus, the views up here are fantastic. The voice of the people should at least have a chance to celebrate its 10th birthday. [phone ringing] Siegel here.

Rex Stone: Mr. Siegel, the Mayor here. The papers won't give me a break. I want to go to WNYC and tell the people what I mean to do. I'll see you in and out.

Seymor Siegel: Okay, sure. We'll be waiting for you to come and speak to all the people. Bye. And so Mayor La Guardia went from being WNYC's would-be executioner to its greatest advocate. He addressed New Yorkers every week in a series called Talk to the People. He spoke about meat shortages and food rationing during World War II. During a newspaper delivery strike, he famously read the funnies to the kids. Dick Tracy, for instance.

Rex Stone: Here's Dick Tracy now. You remember where our little friend is in the laundry wagon. Now here, the first picture is the laundry wagon. It's a yellow laundry wagon.

Brooke Gladstone: No mare lasts forever. Seymour Siegel was now WNYC's director, struggling to keep the lights on as New York lurched from one budget crisis to another. The sale price for WNYC was always tempting, prompting the constant charge that the station was useless.

Micah Lowinger: There was one bright spot. Making friends outside the city. Sey Siegel began mailing tapes of WNYC programs to other non-commercial radio stations on the eastern seaboard, and he got their programs from them in return. They called it the Bicycle network. It was a win-win. It was the very beginning of what would, in a couple of decades, become public radio. WNYC was already middle-aged by May of 1971, when listeners got to hear the first edition of All Things Considered from NPR in Washington.

?Speaker: Thousands of young people came to Washington willing to risk being arrested in order to end the war. They went into the streets this morning to stop the government from functioning by clogging many Washington roads during this morning's rush hour.

Brooke Gladstone: WNYC was part of something bigger now. Public radio. It had its own newsroom, its television station, and AM and FM signals. It was useful but in the '70s, a city-wide budget crisis put the squeeze on the station yet again.

Seymor Siegel: Malanzi, this is horrible. If you cut a third of our budget, we can't be on the air enough hours in the day. We'll lose our broadcast license. There aren't enough people here. You know there's nothing left to take. Well, Mr. Mayor, you already have my resignation letter on your desk. Goodbye. Well, that's it, I guess. I've survived five mares, and the station is almost 50 years old. I never thought it would end up like this size.

Micah Lowinger: Sey Siegel went on to teach and to head the Broadcasting Foundation of America, bringing international programs to American ears. Meanwhile, WNYC got its own fundraising committee, headed by none other than Marie LaGuardia, widow of the mayor, who once told Siegel to shut the joint down. Eventually, it became a foundation with a goal to keep WNYC safe from its owner, the City of New York.

Brooke Gladstone: In the mid-'90s, Rudy Giuliani decided to sell WNYC but by now, the foundation was ready. After a lot of wrangling, it convinced the mayor to sell WNYC to itself. In 1997, the station finally got independence, and all of a sudden, and all at once, a flurry of new eras began.

Reporter: People were crowding around watching the two holes in the Trade Center and all the flames that were spewing out. The building is falling right now.

Brian Lehrer: This is special coverage of Hurricane Sandy.

Reporter: They are taking on water in all the lower Manhattan tubes under the East River.

?Speaker: Say his name.

Reporter: Live special coverage of the historic 8:00 PM curfew happening in New York City.

?Speaker: You're listening to Radio Lab. Listener supported WNYC Studios.

?Speaker: Some children grew up knowing the themes to The Brady Bunch and those sorts of television shows, and I could always hum the theme to All things considered.

Brooke Gladstone: Not many media companies in the US can count 100 candles on their birthday cake.

Micah Lowinger: We don't know what the future will bring, but we do know that every decade, WNYC has observed its birthday on air, kind of like this, telling listeners the story of its unlikely birth. It seems safe to predict that if we make it to 110, someone will probably be impersonating Grover Whalen again.

Brooke Gladstone: Which means WNYC is still a useful station sailing on the seas of time.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Give it up for Brooke Gladstone and Michael Lowinger, the co-hosts of On the Media.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Also, WNYC director of archives Andy Lancet played Grover Whalen, and senior and senior promotions producer Rex Stone was Fiorello LaGuardia, and Adam Pod was at the keys. Thanks also to the New York City Municipal Archives and the New York Public Radio archives for all the great sounds and images of the past. And of course, and for those of you who don't know, you can catch on the media Fridays at 9:00 PM Saturdays at 7:00 AM and Sundays at 10:00 AM on WNYC.

Okay, time now for another round of trivia. We cover a lot of topics on the Brain Lerher Show. One of our favorites and I would say, judging by our phones, many listeners' obsession is transportation.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: I've never heard of a round of applause for transportation before, but it never fails to get the people talking and get them generally ticked off at the MTA or the person next to them on the subway sticking a backpack in their face. Now our next trivia game will be about 100 years of moving around our listening area. Sean, do we have a contestant?

Sean Carlson: Sure do. Everybody, make some noise for Nicola.

[applause]

Sean Carlson: Nicola from Harlem. She's been listening to WNYC for two decades. Her favorite thing about WNYC is Brian.

Nicola: Hi.

Brian Lehrer: Hey, Nicola.

Nicola: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we're going to start with a genuine 100-year history question. True or false? In 1924, when WNYC first signed on, there was already an underground subway in the city.

Nicola: What year was that?

Brian Lehrer: 1924. This is a centennial, you know so it is--

Nicola: Yes, that's true.

Brian Lehrer: True is right. It had opened 20 years earlier in 1904. All right, another deep-track history question. I think this one's harder. New York City boasts more than 650 miles of dedicated cycling space, including extensive bike lanes but prior to recent history, the city didn't have bicycles baked into the infrastructure, in part because of the philosophy of a very famous urban planner and public official known for prioritizing--

Does she get a lifeline to All of You prioritizing private cars and roadways? In fact, you may not know, this audience has 1938 plan for bicycles stated, bicycles have no place in public highways. Who said that?

Nicola: Robert Moses? [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: All right, we probably have time for one more in this chat. More transportation. Almost 100-year history. In 1936, the Triborough Bridge opened, so named because it goes to Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. Duh. A very businesslike, practical name. It was later renamed with these famous initials that belonged to a beloved public figure. What initials replaced the name Triborough on that bridge?

Nicola: RFK.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: and more WNYC. That's why I get slung into the crowd. Radio listeners, I wish you could see this. All right, bonus question. Tee up one more just in case.

Sean Carlson: Yes, cue a bonus.

Brian Lehrer: His son, RFK Jr.-- did he get more boos or more laughs? I'm not sure. Was recently in the news for doing something right here in Central Park as what he thought was a funny prank. What was that? RFK junior Central Park prank? Do you know?

Nicola: Didn't he decapitate a bear?

Brian Lehrer: How did you put it? He what?

Nicola: He decapitated a bear.

Brian Lehrer: Well, I'm going to call that close. He did not decapitate a bear.

Sean Carlson: He's got a lot of animal stories.

Brian Lehrer: He put a dead bear in the park and the transportation angle-- Why am I asking this in a transportation set? He staged it to make it look like the bear was killed by a bicycle. How many of you knew that? How many of you think RFK's prank was really funny? And the guy has a great sense of humor.

Nicola: No.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, okay. All right, audience, you got that one right? So sling them another prize. Thank you.

Sean Carlson: Give it up for Nicola.

Brian Lehrer: All right, this is our WNYC and Friends Summer Stage event. Sean Carlson representing the WNYC side of that equation, and music producer Don Will taking care of the "And Friends" side of things. They are going to stay close for our next round of trivia coming up in a few minutes, where we'll ask about things that were already around back in 1924 when the station first started, or things that didn't come about until after.

We'll ask an audience member for an over/under on things like music, certain local landmarks and famous people but first, I'm going to do something I do just about every weekday at the end of my regular radio show. I'm going to pass the mic to WNYC's own Alison Stewart, whose show All of It comes on at noon to 2:00. Alison, come on out.

Alison Stewart: Hey, everybody. I'm Allison Stewart. I host all of it.

[applause]

Alison Stewart: I am very excited to bring forth a singer/songwriter who just announced their album is coming out. We'll tell you a little bit more about that. She's also just come off of opening for an act at Madison Square Garden. Mxmtoon, come to the stage. Hi.

Mxmtoon: Hi.

Alison Stewart: Last time I saw you, we were at Get Lit With All of It. It was a really intimate thing at the library and then two months later-- well, actually longer than that. Back in the summer, you opened for AJR at Madison Square Garden. First of all, what was that like?

Mxmtoon: Oh, my gosh. I never expected to ever play MSG in my entire life so really surreal.

Alison Stewart: You wrote on your Instagram after that, 2018, I played my first gig in New York. I was opening for the opener of another artist at Baby's Alright in Williamsburg. The crowd consisted of my managers, my booking agent, and my dad. In 2020, I moved to Brooklyn, and last week I had the honor of stepping on stage to sing at the world's most iconic arena for the Maybe Man tour.

I'm moving in the fall, and I feel particularly lucky to get to bookend my chapter and my new life with what will definitely be one of the most insane achievements of my life. First of all, where are you going?

Mxmtoon: I'm going to Nashville, Tennessee.

Alison Stewart: Good choice. Well, what will you take with you that makes us know that you're a New Yorker?

Mxmtoon: Oh, my gosh. Probably all of my leftover subway cards, probably my endless collection of tote bags from just walking around, and probably the general resting do not talk to me face that I carry with me on a daily basis.

Alison Stewart: That's good to bring with you. You have a new album coming out. It's called Liminal Space. What does that title mean to you?

Mxmtoon: Liminal Space, to me is about expressing stories over transitory periods of your life and I think I'm 24, I'm really young, but I have been growing up in front of an audience online for almost seven years at this point and I think that that allows you to really have a very strange relationship with growing up and I think oftentimes has left me in a place where I don't really know how to describe where I am, so it feels very liminal.

Alison Stewart: I was listening to the record and it's got a little country vibe to it. What were you going for? A lot of guitars.

Mxmtoon: I feel like country music is never something I thought I would write, but I did end up writing a lot of this record in Nashville, and by nature of doing that, it ended up influencing a little bit of what I was making but my core, I'm a singer/songwriter, and so it was fun to connect with that.

Alison Stewart: And will you please come back to New York?

Mxmtoon: Oh, absolutely. I'm going to come back to New York as often as I can.

Alison Stewart: Mxmtoon, the new album, Liminal Space, will be out November 1st. Here's mxmtoon. Nice to see you.

Mxmtoon: Nice to see you. Hello. First of all, I'm so excited to be here. I love WNYC, and I was just here last summer for another Summer Stage event, so this is really awesome and full circle that I get to be back here again. This is amazing. I am going to play you a song off of the record that's coming out later this year, Liminal Space. And it was the first single that I released, and it's called I hate Texas and so if you have-- Okay, awesome I knew this was New York, but if you have any sentimental feelings about Texas, I'm sorry, but I'm not that sorry. This is I hate Texas.

[MUSIC - mxmtoon: I hate Texas]

[applause]

Mxmtoon: Thank you very much. I have a couple of more songs and if anybody knows anything about me, I started my journey with music on the ukelele on YouTube and had a dream. I never expected to move to New York City, start playing songs for people in crowds like this. I'm from Oakland California if anybody is from there, the Bay Area. All right. Okay, let's go. I've been making music now for way longer than I ever thought I would and this next one is from my second album that I released in 2022 called Rising and the song is called Mona Lisa.

It's just about how, gosh, being an artist is exhausting. I wish someone else would make art about me. What's up with that? This song is mona lisa.

[MUSIC - mxmtoon: mona lisa]

[applause]

Mxmtoon: Thank you guys for being so kind. This is my last song. It's called prom dress.

[MUSIC - mxmtoon: Prom Dress] I guess I maybe had a couple expectations

Thought I'd get to them, but no I didn't

I guess I thought that prom was gonna be fun

But now I'm sitting on the floor and all I wanna do is run

All I wanna do is run

[applause]

Sean Carlson: Give it up for mxmtoon. Thank you for celebrating our centennial with us. Now, of course, many of us are here in person in Central Park for the WNYC and Friends Centennial celebration here at SummerStage. First though, for the radio audience, there is some business that I have to get to. You might be familiar with it. You're listening to WNYC FM HD and AM New York, WNJT-FM 88.1 Trenton, WNJP 88.5 Sussex, WNJU 89.3 Netcong, and WNJO 90.3 Toms River. We are New York and New Jersey Public Radio.

?Speaker: AARP New York City is a supporter of WNYC Centennial, helping New York's public radio station reach hundreds of thousands of engaged listeners who have made WNYC part of their daily routine. More at wnyc.org/100.

Sean Carlson: Live from Central Park, this is WNYC and Friends Centennial celebration. I'm Sean Carlson.

[cheers]

Sean Carlson: Let's welcome your host back to the stage, Brian Lehrer.

[cheers]

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Sean. Once again, I don't think I've ever seen so many public radio nerds in one place. Let's go right on to our next and final round of trivia. This time our game is about what was and what wasn't already a part of the city in 1924, the year WNYC was born. Sean, do we have a contestant?

Sean Carlson: We do. Make some noise for Rhonda Kirschner, everybody. Rhonda Kirschner lives on the Upper West Side. She doesn't remember how long she's been listening to WNYC but for as long as she can remember, 50 years plus. Those are her words.

Brian Lehrer: Welcome, welcome, welcome. And our first question will be a musical one. Donwill, hit it.

[MUSIC - George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue]

Rhonda Kirschner: Oh, Rhapsody in Blue.

Brian Lehrer: But that's not the question.

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: The question is, was Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin released before, after, or in 1924?

Rhonda Kirschner: In.

Brian Lehrer: In is right.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: For those of you listening on the radio, you cannot see our trio of slingshotters slinging swag into the crowd each time a contestant gets an answer right. Did I see three different pieces of swag go out that time?

Sean Carlson: It's up to four.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, it's up to four now. Okay, now we're gonna go at a fast pace. None of these other ones, these things are gonna be in 1924. So the question is, before or after WNYC was born? Yankee Stadium.

Rhonda Kirschner: Ooh. Before.

Brian Lehrer: Before is right. Look at that swag go. 1923. The year before Central Park. Before or after WNYC?

Rhonda Kirschner: Definitely before.

Brian Lehrer: Definitely before. In 1858. How about the Empire State Building?

Rhonda Kirschner: Ooh, I think after.

Brian Lehrer: After is correct.

Rhonda Kirschner: I think 1931, maybe.

Brian Lehrer: Home of the WNYC transmitter, the Empire State Building was built from 1930 to 1931. Could they build a hundred-story building in one year today?

Rhonda Kirschner: It only took 18 months to build it. It was a miracle.

Brian Lehrer: Unbelievable. You know your history. How about the Stone Wall Inn?

Rhonda Kirschner: Ooh.

Rhonda Kirschner: Obviously, it became world famous after 1969, but I would say before it was after.

Rhonda Kirschner: Right. I would say before.

Brian Lehrer: It was after.

Sean Carlson: The original Stonewall Inn was founded in 1930 as a speakeasy on 7th Avenue, New South that relocated to Christopher Street in 1934.

Brian Lehrer: Sean is the keeper of the correct answers.

Rhonda Kirschner: I was just there a few months ago, and I read the plaque.

Sean Carlson: We appreciate that.

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: How about McSorley's old ale house?

Rhonda Kirschner: That was before.

Brian Lehrer: That was before 1854. No wonder they called it old. How about the Dakota? The Dakota?

Rhonda Kirschner: The Dakota, before.

Brian Lehrer: Before. Cabot built between 1880 and 1884. Today a national historic landmark. The building we have read was one of the first large developments on the Upper West Side and is the oldest remaining luxury apartment building in New York City. How about Ellis Island? Before or after?

Rhonda Kirschner: Oh, way before.

Brian Lehrer: Way before. Opened in 1900. The Williamsburg Bridge? Not the Brooklyn Bridge.

Rhonda Kirschner: Ooh, I think before. I think.

Brian Lehrer: Before. 1903. Radio City Music Hall?

Rhonda Kirschner: I think after because it's for Art Deco.

Brian Lehrer: After is correct. 1932. I think that is very accurate, to nail it as Deco. It was built as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center at that time. Last one. Oh, what happened there? Oh, we had a dud on the slingshot. This is like-- You people are very well behaved because since it landed in front of the audience, there could have been a scramble like for Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball or something like that, but not quite. Bronx Zoo. Did I say that already? Oh, that's the last one.

Rhonda Kirschner: Ooh. Ooh. I would say after.

Brian Lehrer: 1899.

Rhonda Kirschner: Really?

Brian Lehrer: Yeah.

Sean Carlson: Sorry, Rhonda.

Brian Lehrer: I was surprised, too. I didn't know they started treating animals as attractions in cages that early. Okay, bonus round real quick.

Rhonda Kirschner: Bonus round, okay.

Brian Lehrer: These are true or false questions about human beings. Were they born in 1924 or were they born some other time? Okay, 1924 birthdays or not? James Baldwin. Yes or no?

Rhonda Kirschner: True.

Brian Lehrer: True, yes. Sling. Shirley Chisholm.

Rhona Kirschner: True.

Brian Lehrer: True. 1924. Oh, they're going to slink diagonally now. That did not work. For those of you listening on the radio, people in the front row are getting a lot of this sweat. Two more. Ed cot. 1924?

Rhona Kirschner: Um, no.

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Rhona Kirschner: He was? I thought he was younger.

Brian Lehrer: Last one.

Rhona Kirschner: I thought he was younger.

Brian Lehrer: Last one. Jimmy Carter.

Rhonda Kirschner: Jimmy?

Brian Lehrer: Carter. President Jimmy Carter.

Rhona Kirschner: Yes, yes, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. As a matter of fact, in just three weeks, on October 1, karma-willing, he will turn 100.

Rhona Kirschner: God bless him.

Brian Lehrer: Congratulations. You were a great contestant.

Rhonda Kirschner: Oh, thank you.

Sean Carlson: Show some love to Rhonda Kirchner, everybody.

[applause]

Rhonda Kirschner: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: That was wonderful.

Speaker 2: Rhoda, you got [unintelligible 01:07:38].

Brian Lehrer: All right. And that's all the time we have.

[crowd chanting "Rhonda"]

Sean Carlson: That's the love for Rhonda that we're talking about. Thanks.

Brian Lehrer: Next up, one of the things that listeners love on our air is storytelling. Whether that's in the form of a Radiolab story or on the investigation series Reveal, or on The Moth, which we air Wednesdays and Saturdays on WNYC. Those stories all come from regular people who share their stories in front of live audiences for The Moth. We've got a pretty live audience here. That is obvious.

For this part of the evening, we're going to invite out a storyteller who shared her story at one of The Moth's weekly New York City story slams. As she joins us to share her story, let's welcome Gabrielle Shea.

[applause]

Gabrielle Shea: A little lower. Good. Perfect. Last year, when the RnB crooner Bobbie Caldwell died, the rapper Common posted a sweet tribute. At the time, I had no idea that these two musical geniuses with very different styles were connected to each other and to me. When I was 19, my dad agreed to letting me go to Cancun with my two best friends. But he said, "You got to earn your own spending money." We were young and broke, so we spent countless hours perusing the Village Voice, looking for the right gig, to no avail. We couldn't find anything.

I went home and I cried to my cousin, and he said, "Look, I work for this uniform store. The owner is pretty nice. I guarantee he'll give you something." So I went in for an interview, and sure enough, I got hired on the spot. On the first day, I met the assistant manager, this pretty cool white dude named Frank. Frank and I became fast friends. We hung out at the store, we ate lunch together. We talked on the phone all the time, but it wasn't until he became my first call in the morning and my last call at night that I started to realize that my feelings were changing. It was a little nerve-wracking because I'm Haitian, Frank was Irish, and, you know, different races, cultures, backgrounds. Even in New York City not everyone was going to be happy with the relationship, but we decided to give it a shot anyway.

Our first official date was to a Common concert. I remember sitting in the last row of the Hammerstein ballroom thinking, "Damn. This white boy from Flatbush, Brooklyn put me on." He was a huge hip-hop fan, and I eventually became one, too. As Common started to perform his song, The Light, Frank put his arm around me, held me close, and in that moment, I knew that we were in it for the long haul. That song became our song.

Over the next few months, Frank and I enjoyed getting to know each other. He wrote me love letters all the time. He brought me these cute little gifts, and he would leave them on my doorstep. He took me to see Rent five times just because it was my favorite. I mean, he was sweet. It was my first real relationship, so I was on cloud nine. About two years after that first date, Frank and I ended up at yet another Common concert. But this time it was at the iconic SOBs.

Now, if you've ever been to SOB's, you know it's a small, intimate venue where sometimes the celebs are mingling with gen pop. So we're just hanging out when all of a sudden, in walks Questlove from The Roots. As he strolls past us, Frank taps him on the shoulder and he says something to him. Quest then turns to me and says, "Hi, I'm Amir." Okay. I look at him, take his hand, and say, "Hi, I'm Gabrielle." He was about to say something else, but Frank stopped him, and then he quickly walked away. I thought the exchange was a little weird, but, you know, I let it go.

The concert begins, and about four or five songs in Common starts with "I never knew a luh luh luh a love like this." And I back up a little bit. I get a little closer to Frank and I start swaying to the music because I am feeling the vibe when all of a sudden he taps me on the shoulder and my first thought is, "Are you kidding me? The man is performing our song on the stage, and you have the audacity to interrupt?" So I slowly begin to turn around because I am about to tell him off. But when I do, I am rendered speechless because I am now face-to-face with the most beautiful diamond ring I have ever seen in my life. I was so overjoyed that I don't even know if I said yes. I just hugged him and just held on tight.

Erykah Badu grabs my hand to check out the bling. Musiq Soulchild says, "Congratulations." Bilal gives Frank a pound. Questlove runs over to snap a picture and the entire audience goes crazy. Honestly, I couldn't have even written it better myself. On the drive home, Frank proceeds to share his master plan. So what happened was a couple of weeks before the concert, he had posted a message on okplayer.com saying that he was going to propose to his girlfriend. So everyone in the audience knew what was going down except for me.

For some strange reason that night, I also decided to email Questlove. It was the 2000s, early 2000s, very different time. To my surprise, he hit me back and he sent me the picture that he had taken of us. Now, this entire time, I was sure that Common had no idea as to what was going on. But recently, I came across an interview where he was asked about the wildest thing that happened at a concert of his. He said, "Well, a few years ago I was having this concert in New York City. As I'm performing The Light, I look into the audience and notice this weeping woman, only to find out that she had just been proposed to by her boyfriend."

Now, for the record, I was not weeping, but it was nice to know that he remembered us. Ironically, around the same time that I came across this interview was when Bobby Caldwell died. I didn't know who Bobby Caldwell was. Eventually, I realized that I recognized some of his songs. I didn't even know that he was a white guy. He didn't sound like one. But as they announced his passing on the radio, they played this song called Open Your Eyes. It was his song. And I was shocked to learn that Bobby Caldwell's Open Your Eyes was the basis for Common's song, The Light. So, in essence, without Bobby Caldwell's song, there would not be Common song and we wouldn't have our song. Last week, Frank and I celebrated 20 years of marriage.

[applause]

Gabrielle Shea: Thank you. Common has three beautiful goddaughters that he has yet to meet. And you know, my girls, they constantly make fun of me because I am old school. I keep everything. So I have the concert tickets from many years ago. I have a printout of the picture that Questlove took of us and I have an article where Common was asked about the impact that the music, his music has on his fans and he mentioned us. I hold on to these relics because I like the reminder that one of my favorite hip-hop artists was a part of my story. But it also warms my heart to know that we too are a little part of his.

[MUSIC - Common - The Light]

Brian Lehrer: Let's hear it for Gabrielle Shea. What a beautiful story, right? What a perfect example of the power of storytelling that we know is so important to connecting people and ideas and experiences, something we consider a central part of our public radio mission. And so stories like Gabrielle's are near and dear to us. Tune in to The Moth on WNYC Wednesdays at 08:00 PM and Saturdays at 02:00 PM and learn how you can be an audience member or a storyteller at moth.org if you're interested.

As part of our celebration of our centennial, we also want to invite you to share your stories anytime, your New York stories. We have a portal for that now. We will be sharing select stories on our website or social media or on the air. It could be about a chance encounter, a shared experience on the subway, or a random conversation on a street corner that led to something beautiful, surprising, or maybe a little weird or just plain unforgettable. To tell your story, scan the QR code on the screen or go to our centennial website, wnyc.org/100. wnyc.org/100. Join us with your voices if you would like. Now I welcome to the stage at WNYC Legend, the host of our music shows, New Sounds and Soundcheck, and the longest-serving host on WNYC, let's welcome John Schaeffer.

[applause]

Laurie Anderson: My daughter was reading one just the other day.

John Schaeffer: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Hey, John.

John Schaeffer: Hello, Central Park. Brian and I have spent many a fine evening here wearing the colors of the WNYC softball team.

Brian Lehrer: John has come out in the WNYC softball uniform shirt. I didn't play this year. How'd we do?

John Schaeffer: Actually, pretty well. We left our media league. So we're back to being an independent.

Brian Lehrer: We play like, really, you know, extreme jock places. Like what? Lincoln center? Channel 13?

John Schaeffer: American Museum of Natural History. They got some bangers now.

Brian Lehrer: I'll bet they do. They got those bones. They can use everything. When I started in 1989, you were already there eight years, and I was already a fanboy of you being a DJ. My question for you for today is, in this era of algorithms choosing our next track, how do you see the special value in your role as a human curator of music on the radio? Serious question.

John Schaeffer: Yeah, and a really good one because it's kind of like the writer faced with the blank page. When you have unlimited options, how do you know where to begin? As we have everything available to us increasingly in the digital age, it becomes harder and harder to figure out where to go next and so it becomes even more important to have voices you trust, editors, gatekeepers, whatever you want to label them. I think that what we do at WNYC and on our classical station, WQXR, is even more important now than it was when there were lots of other people doing the same things that we're doing.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Hear, hear. Everybody, we're about to hear some music from someone who WNYC actually has a very long relationship with. The station commissioned Laurie Anderson to write some music for WNYC's 50th birthday.

John Schaeffer: The WNYC FM 50th birthday, which was 1994. The FM station went on in '44. '94 we--

Brian Lehrer: For the FM station's 50th birthday. Thank you for correcting that. That's the music that we heard a little of as you were walking out here. Here she is joining us for our 100th birthday as well in a second. John, just tell us how the worlds of WNYC and Laurie Anderson have intersected historically.

John Schaeffer: Well--

Brian Lehrer: Well, here she comes. So come on, folks.

[applause and cheers]

Laurie Anderson: Hi, John.

Brian Lehrer: John, talk a little bit as I back away about how WNYC and Laurie Anderson have intersected historically.

John Schaeffer: Okay, so September 1982, I start my show, New Sounds. I'd been there for a year or so. I started New Sounds September 3, 1982, basically playing my own record collection. Someone from Bam called me in December and said, "We have Laurie Anderson doing her big United States thing, two-night show, multimedia. Would you like to have her for an interview?" I thought, "Well, yeah."

In January of 1983, we aired our first interview on New Sounds, and it was with Laurie and United States. Laurie is not just ancient history anymore. You're working on-- It was a four-part piece over two nights. You are now working on what is essentially a fifth part called the ARK. What does that refer to?

Laurie Anderson: That's a ship that's going to save us. It's just what we're going to do with things. It's a kind of retelling of the story of ark. It's called United States V.

John Schaeffer: This is something that comes on the heels of your new record called Amelia, about the final flight of Amelia Earhart. If you missed our program about that, you can find it online newsounds.org. It's a wonderful record, and Laurie has a great story to tell about the making of it and all the research and stuff that went into it. When you do a project like that, do you do a lot of research normally?

Laurie Anderson: Yeah, I had to kind of think about what it would be like to fly around the world and why she would do that also. That was part of what I was thinking of but also, I just found out a lot of-- She left a lot of things around because she married her press agent. That's one thing you should know about her. She was the first blogger. She was writing constantly about where she was landing and what she was doing and her flight. I'm just in love with this person. She just was so amazing.

John Schaeffer: Well, we have been fans of yours for 40-plus years now, and you've been a great friend.

Laurie Anderson: Update your shirt. You know, this is Schaefer 30, but he's been there longer than this.

John Schaeffer: This shirt, this edition of the shirt was done for my 30th anniversary at WNYC, at which Laurie Anderson performed. One of my favorite photos of my time at WNYC is the green space crew. They all had these shirts, and at the end of the evening, they all stood with their backs to the camera wearing these Schaeffer 30 shirts. It's just a wonderful little photo, and you'll see a lot of those. They're the ones wearing the white overalls that have been hitting you with swag during the course of the evening. Yes, an applause for the staff of the green space.

[applause]

John Schaeffer: Sexmob.

Laurie Anderson: Here they are, Sexmob.

John Schaeffer: You have done, you've toured with them. Maybe we get to hear a little recording of you with them in the not-too-distant future. Stephen Bernstein is one of New York's--

Laurie Anderson: Yay, Steven.

John Schaeffer: I was going to say hidden treasures. He's not so hidden. He's been around forever. He's an amazing arranger. The band is like just this kind of killer lineup of musicians.

Laurie Anderson: Doug Wieselman Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, Briggan Krauss. They are the best.

[applause]

John Schaeffer: You're going to do a couple of songs. One is one of your own songs, and the other is from a different project, and I'm not going to say anything about it, but here is Laurie Anderson with Sexmob live.

[applause]

Laurie Anderson: Lately, with the elections coming up, there's so many experts who are analyzing what's going to happen, and you know what it means. I'm thinking of all the thought leaders, the influencers, the consultants, and of course, the political pundits, the experts who know what's real and what's just another really bizarre story.

[MUSIC - Laurie Anderson: Only an Expert]

Now only an expert can deal with the problem

Because half the problem is seeing the problem.

And only an expert can deal with the problem

Only an expert can deal with the problem.

So if there is no expert dealing with the problem

It's really actually twice the problem.

Cause only an expert can deal with the problem

Only an expert can deal with the problem.

Now, in America we like solutions.

We like solutions to problems.

And there are so many companies that offer solutions

Companies with names like: The Pet Solution, The Hair Solution

The Debt Solution, The World Solution, The Sushi Solution.

Companies with experts ready to solve these problems.

Cause only an expert can see there's a problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem

Only an expert can deal with the problem

Only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem

Laurie Anderson: Then there are the expert who say the problem with America is democracy. Just too many of the wrong kind of people making the decisions and these experts say, "What we need here is a dictator. Someone who can take control. Someone who can get to the heart of the problem. Solve the problems, make things efficient maybe with a new commission without all that voting. But don't forget, this has nothing to do with 60% of the US population. We're barely getting by. We're 1.3 weeks away, 1.3 paychecks away from a shelter.

In other words a person with problems.

So when experts say let's get to the root of the problem

Let's take control of the problem cause if you take control of the problem

You can solve the problem

Often this doesn't work at all because the situation is

Completely out of control.

Cause only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem.

[instrumental]

And sometimes when it's really really really really hot and it's July in January

And there's no more snow and huge waves are wiping out cities

And hurricanes are everywhere and everyone knows it's a problem

But if some of the experts say it's no problem

And other experts claim it's no problem and explain why it's no problem

Then it's simply not a problem.

Cause only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem.

[instrumental]

Even though a country can invade another country

And flatten it and ruin it and create havoc and civil war in that other country

If the experts say it's not a problem,

Everyone agrees they're experts are good solving problems

Then invading those country is simply not a problem.

And if a country tortures people and holds citizens without cause

Or trial and sets up military tribunals this is also not a problem

Unless there's an expert who says: This is the beginning of a problem.

Cause only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem

And only an expert can deal with the problem.

[instrumental]

Only an expert

Only an expert

Only an expert

Only an expert

[applause and cheers]

[humming]

[MUSIC - Lou Reed: Junior Dad]

Would you come to me if I was half drowning

and I'm above the last wave?

Would you come to me?

Would you pull me up?

Would the effort really hurt you?

Is it unfair to ask you to help hold me up?

[instrumental]

[applause]

Laurie Anderson: Thank you and thank you, Sexmob.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Give it up for Laurie Anderson and Sexmob. That was amazing. She's got the lyrics, she's got the music. She even employs the horn section, props for employing a horn section in 2024. All right, on we go. Back when WNYC was only on the air for 60 years, we did an experiment with children's radio that became a popular show all across the country. One of the young producers who worked on the show went by the name Bob Public Radio. See if you recognize the voice.

Ira Glass: Parents sometimes argue in front of their children, but kids say they don't like it. In a recent survey on the radio program Kids America, 67 children called in to say that parents should not argue in front of kids, while only twelve children approved of such arguments.

Brian Lehrer: Folks, any guesses who that was? Shout it out? That's right. From This American Life, please welcome Ira Glass. The one. The one, the only Ira Glass. Ira, just for the sake of the history theme of this event, how did young Ira Glass, before This American Life, become a character in a kid's show?

Ira Glass: My mentor, there was a guy who I worked for at NPR in Washington. His name was Keith Talbott and basically half of everything I know about radio, I learned from him. He came to WNYC to start Kids America, which was, I have to say, it was really kind of an amazingly great show and an interesting experiment, this call-in show for children. He dragged me over to WNYC once a week, and I became one of the characters on his show.

Audience Member: Do it again.

Ira Glass: Do it again, Kids America fan. I feel like Keith was--

Brian Lehrer: Can I ask you to talk a little more about him? Because I didn't know until you told me backstage that you, Ira Glass, had a mentor.

Ira Glass: Yes. Keith was working at NPR in its earliest days in Washington, and his job was to invent new ways to do documentaries on the radio. I feel like a whole generation of us just came out of that. I never would be doing the job I'm doing now. He would do things like, he would have character, things that became very standard, having characters in the stories narrate the stories, but he also would have, like, fictional characters narrate the stories. He'll just make up characters to narrate stuff and just sound design the hell out of it. I came out of that. This American Life would not exist without him. Serial would not exist. Like there's a whole generation Heavyweight Gimlet Media like PJ Vogt show like there's a whole world of us came out of that.

Brian Lehrer: I'm so glad he's getting a shout-out tonight. All right, Ira, thanks for coming to our birthday party. I know everybody's looking forward to what you've got for us. Take it away.

[applause and cheers]

Ira Glass: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day. To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools. The way to dusty death. Okay, now you can tell people that have done Shakespeare in the park.

[laughter]

Ira Glass: I thought I'd use the rest of my time here at the centennial to show my appreciation and respect to some just groundbreaking moments of radio that I loved that aired on WNYC during these hundred years and this is just people inventing new ways to use the medium itself. This first clip I'm going to play you was broadcast on WNYC sometime around its 56th year of existence. This is 1980. This was on All Things Considered and its 9th year on the air.

At the time, All Things Considered, and no disrespect to the current very excellent, very fine staff and hosts, All Things Considered was a much looser project, a looser bunch of people on the air on a very active mission to re-imagine what radio could be. The person at the time who pushed that spirit of innovation more than anybody else was a dazzling reporter in his early thirties whose name was Robert Krulwich.

Many of you here know who he is in those very early days. I feel like there's stuff of his that I remember loving as a baby reporter at NPR. I just felt like that's how you should do radio. I couldn't believe that as I got older, I got to meet him, and I feel like nobody remembers this stuff, so I want to play a clip from one of his early pieces. In the early days of NPR, Robert was the business correspondent, typically the most boring job in the newsroom, and the way he did it was like no broadcaster had ever done before him.

To illustrate the way the economy worked, he would create these funny little radio dramas where he would combine real quotes from experts and newsmakers with scenes and characters that he would invent. He would usually perform all the made-up characters himself, all the different voices himself. For example, to explain the tough choice that the Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, had back in '79 and '80 over whether to raise or lower interest rates, to explain what that actually meant, Robert conceived a three-act opera, mostly in Italian, called Ratto Interesso. Robert himself played a kind of stuffy classical music announcer who was supposedly broadcasting this opera on a classical station. Here's a clip as they head into the final act.

Robert Krulwich: Now in Act 3, we are now in Washington at the Federal Reserve Board. I see it's going to start in just a second. Angelino, Berugino, and Luigi are in the Front hall making their appeals to Paul Volcker. He answers them in English. He must both defend the dollar and Business conditions in America. Here, then, is Act 3 of Alberto Tucci's Ratto Interesso.

[opera music]

Paul Volcker: Ladies and gentlemen, we're face to face with economic difficulties really unique in our experience.

Ira Glass: Robert would do this all the time. He explained the principles of Reaganomics with lab mice who were really these speeded-up voices of his coworkers. This is like on drive time, national news. Like the utter ridiculousness of it, the happy joy of it just infused all of his work, and it just defied all normal expectations. I'm done with that page. That's fine.

[laughter]

Ira Glass: I'm not used to performing in a place where there's wind. [chuckles] I'll say to the radio audience, it's just a page of mine just blew away. NPR had only been there for ten years. Right? Okay, so years pass. Two decades pass, and we come to the next clip of tape I want to play you. It is WNYC's 80th year on the air, and Robert teams up with young producer Jad Abumrad as the host of Radiolab. Jad, at the time, had just turned 31.

I feel like all of you who would come out to an event like this tonight in Central Park, you know what Radiolab is. I just want to say, as a radio producer, I feel like they don't get enough credit actually for just how new that was. They were the cutting-edge of radio anywhere in the world. They did this thing, the rarest thing that happens in any medium. They invented a completely new aesthetic that sounds like nothing before him. It was like a new way to think about how you structure and produce a radio show.

The idea is that on the surface, it's like this chatty friendly show that's out for fun, but at the same time, it's serious journalism. Then the sound design just was done with a density and prettiness that I think nobody who did documentaries had really attempted in radio. I don't know of anyone who did. I'm going to play you just-- I know you guys have all heard this, but I'm going to play you the typical opening of a typical episode and just talk to you about what I hear when I hear it. This particular episode, Jad opens telling Robert about a young woman. This young woman. Hold on. Stand by.

Laura Buxton: Hello, I'm Laura Buxton.

Ira Glass: Laura Buxton. She was ten years old when the story happened. She was living in an English town called Stoke-on-Trent. One day, Jad tells Robert she took a red balloon. She wrote on it. Please return to Laura Buxton and her address. It was a windy day. She stood in her front yard, held it up and let go.

Jad Abumrad: All right. Now, I'm looking at a map here of England, and Stoke-on-Trent is at the top, so the balloon would have had to go south, like down, down, down past Stratford, past Walsall, past Wolverhampton, then past Birmingham, past Kidderminster, past Worcester, past--

Ira Glass: Okay, I just want to say, like, I hear this. I feel very aware of the staging. Now, even before Jad did the interview, he must have known that to communicate this story, to get across, what's going to be a key plot point is that he's going to have to get across to the audience that this balloon traveled a great distance and he has to think about the drama of that. How do you make people feel that? And so what he did is that his solution is very simple. He brought a map of England into the interview with him to go through the map with her so you could kind of picture it in your head.

Jad Abumrab: Past millions of people. Past Cheltenham.

Laura Buxton 1: Yeah.

Ira Glass: People with different lives, different names. Pass Gloucester.

Laura Buxton 1: Gloucester.

Jad Abumrad: Gloucester and all in all, the red balloon goes about 140 miles.

Ira Glass: Anyway, 140 miles. Then finally it lands. Floats down to earth, and it lands in the yard of a second girl in a town called Milton Lilbourne. Here in is that second girl.

Laura Buxton 2: Our next-door neighbor found it and he thought it was just a bit of rubbish, and he collected it up, so the cows wouldn't eat it. He was about to put it in the bin, literally. Then he saw the label saying, "Please send back to Laura Buxton." He was like, "Oh, my God."

Robert Krulwich: Why? Why would he say, oh, my God?

Ira Glass: Okay, so, first of all, I don't even know what that ominous drum thing is like. They had to manufacture that. I wouldn't know how you do that. Apparently, Jad does.

Jad Abumrad: Okay, so check this out. Remember how I told you the first girl who sent the balloon was 10?

Robert Krulwich: Yes.

Jad Abumrad: The second girl who received it.

Laura Buxton 2: I'm 10 years old.

Jad Abumrad: She's 10. Okay?

Robert Krulwich: Okay.

Ira Glass: Okay. Just notice the music that is forming underneath him again, pushing it forward and the feeling it has. Jad is a composer, and so he's writing and playing the music, in addition to doing the journalism, writing the story, hosting. Just notice in this next clip just how the music just rises and moves through this thing.

Jad Abumrad: Wait, there's more.

Robert Krulwich: Better be.

Jad Abumrad: Remember how I told you the first girl's name?

Ira Glass: Remember, first girl's 10? Second girls, 10.

Jad Abumrad: Wait, there's more.

Robert Krulwich: Better be.

Jad Abumrad: Remember how I told you the first girl's name was Laura Buxton?

Robert Krulwich: Yeah.

Jad Abumrad: Well, girl number two, can you introduce yourself?

Laura Buxton 2: Okay. Hi, I'm Laura Buxton.

Robert Krulwich: What?

Jad Abumrad: Girl number one.

Laura Buxton 1: Hello, I'm Laura Buxton.

Jad Abumrad: Girl number two.

Laura Buxton 2: Hello, I'm Laura Buxton.

Robert Krulwich: They're both Laura Buxton?

Jad Abumrad: Yeah.

Robert Krulwich: No.

Jad Abumrad: Yes.

Robert Krulwich: Both named Laura Buxton.

Jad Abumrad: Yes, you heard me right. A ten-year-old girl named Laura Buxton lets go of a balloon.

Ira Glass: I just have to pause this again to just talk about this. Okay, so just the number of things that happen in that moment. First of all, he pulls out all the music for the dramatic moment. That's just like basic radio. You pull out the music, and then whatever you say next when the music is out, seems very, very important. Then the thing happens. He reveals that they're both named Laura Buxton. There's that weird violin sting that they had to manufacture, steal from somewhere else. Music starts. There's a little penny whistle thing that he throws in after "lets go of a balloon" for no reason at all other than that seemed like a fun thing to do.

Then a whole other piece of music comes in, this old vamp, from what it sounds like an old Raymond Scott number. It's a completely wonderful musical choice. Again, I'm going to play you this eight and a half seconds. Just notice how musical it is. It's documentary done as musical composition.

Jad Abumrad: Yes, you heard me right. A ten-year-old girl named Laura Buxton lets go of a balloon.

Ira Glass: Beat starts.

Jad Abumrad: That balloon floats 140 miles and lands in the yard of another ten-year-old girl named Laura Buxton.

Robert Krulwich: Is this is for real?

Jad Abumrad: Yes.

Ira Glass: What a pretty clarinet choice.

Jad Abumrad: I think it might be the strangest thing I've ever heard in my life.

Laura Buxton: It's pretty weird.

Jad Abumrad: So weird we had to get them both into a studio.

?Speaker: Hello, New York, this is London. Can you hear me?

Laura Buxton: I'm going to hear Americans through these?

Ira Glass: "We're going to hear Americans through these," she's saying. This is just the last thing I'm going to point out and that is that thing where, like, they're setting up the microphones and you hear that as part of the story. Radiolab invented that, and they did it so often that it became so widespread by podcasters, people don't even know it began with them. It's just one of these things that just everybody does now. Every episode of the Daily when they're setting up the microphones and they're just like, "Maggie Haberman, so what'd you have for lunch today?" And before they actually said, that actually is stolen from 2009 Radiolab, when that was cutting edge.

We're like three minutes and 42 seconds into this episode. You can see how when you're producing it in your head, which you do if you're a crazy person like me, how you're appreciating it. That's just the setup. The episode and the whole story then turn out to be about a subject that's just as weird and original for a radio show as the production style. It turns out to be a whole episode on the mathematical concept of stochasticity, of randomness, of numbers.

There was an article about Robert and Jad in the New York Review of books that pointed out in an almost comic attempt to make their job hard, the duo take on only the most difficult subjects from science and philosophy. Time, morality, memory, forgetting, limits. Try doing an entertaining hour on the idea of limits. So they invented this new aesthetic. They invented a thing for a radio show to be about.

I'll just close this by saying one more thing. There was a speech that Robert gave a couple of years ago where he talked about the freedom that he felt at NPR in the early days. He said the reason why he was able to do the work he did and why he trained himself to do work in a certain way was because they encouraged him to play. I think when we think about an institution like WNYC and we think about public radio, I feel like there's all these high-minded things that people expect of it to reinforce the community and to give accurate, timely analysis and news and all the things that I feel like all of us turn to public radio for every day, but I feel like not enough gets said just about play. I feel like--

Audience Member: Amen.

Jad Abumrad: Thank you. Without that, I just feel like this is my wish for WNYC for the next years, is that, that that is there as well and grows. I feel like that's when things just become bigger than the sum of its parts. Anyway, thanks so much for including me tonight.

[applause and cheers]

Speaker 2: Thanks once again to Ira Glass. All right, our last performers of the evening, New York's own Nada Surf, 30 years ago, released their first single Popular became a huge hit. I think I interviewed them in a bar in the East Village in the nineties from MTV. I can't remember. On Friday, they're releasing their 10th studio album. It's called Moon Mirror. Please welcome Nada Surf.

[applause]

Speaker 2: I have to ask you, before you start playing, tell us a little bit about your new album.

Matthew Caws: Oh, yeah. Let's see. Apparently, we put out a record every election year. I didn't realize that until someone pointed out yesterday. Moon Mirror, We're very excited about it. We're on a new label for us, New West. It's a very exciting time.

Speaker 2: All right. Let's hear you go. Nada Surf, everybody.

[applause]

Matthew Caws: We'll be right with you. Just a tiny little. I was doing this behind the Ira Glass to my great embarrassment. All right.

[MUSIC - Nada Surf: New Propeller]

There’s a new propeller

Churning up our days

There’s a whirlpool spinning

Digging us our graves

There’s a growing menu

Of brand new mistakes

Same old ground I’ve always walked on

Now they call it fake

Don’t be afraid

You won’t be replaced

Don’t be afraid

You won’t be erased

There's a new day coming

We don't know its name

There's new methods brewing

Some will be the same

There's a growing feeling

Going down the drain

Same old ground I've always walked on

There's always new pain

Don’t be afraid

You won’t be replaced

Don’t be afraid

You won’t be erased

There's a brand-new flavor

Acidic in its taste

There's a brand new picture

Colors gone to waste

There's a growing feeling

Nobody is chaste

Same old ground I've always walked on

Sliding in the lake

You felt a bright white light

You gave it a name and you set a price

Okay, there may be a god

And they love you with all their heart

But there's no place underground

There is no devil hound [MUSIC - Nada Surf: New Propeller]

We're alone, but you are the door prize

Watch it go, it's a lovely twilight

We're alone, but you are the door prize

Watch it go, it's a lovely twilight

[applause]

Nada Surf: Man. Thank you. What a joy and honor to be playing with such great musicians and radio creators here in my childhood park. I want to say happy birthday to my mom tomorrow, who's been bringing me to this park since 1967. Super quick story. I was vacuuming the house, wearing noise cancelling headphones, and my wife came up the stairs and said, could you fill the bath? I want to put some bleach in it and give it a good clean. I said, sure.

I turn on the bath and put my noise canceling headphones back on and keep vacuuming you know what's coming. So ten minutes later, my wife runs up the stairs. What is happening? We've got seven smoke alarms going off in the house. Thank goodness in a way. So full panic. Try and fix whatever I can. Turn off the electricity, turn off the smoke alarms, which took a little while. Got a little extra tinnitus for about a week from that. Everything was fine. House dried out, electricity back on.

But I felt so dumb. So dumb. Two days later, I was driving and the only thing that cheered me up was to make a deal with myself and say, I'm not going to multitask anymore. Update. I still multitask. What I hadn't realized until two days ago was that-- what I'm about to tell you is that I wrote this song called In Front of Me Now while driving.

[laughter]

I didn't realize that. Anyway, here we go.

[MUSIC - Nada Surf: In Front of Me Now]

I used to be dreaming when I was driving

I used to be leaving when I was arriving

I used to be calling when I was walking

I used to be thinking when I was talking

I used to be counting when I was sharing

I used to be blanking when I was staring

I used to be rolling when I was parking

I used to be raining when I was sparking

Today, I do what's in front of me now

Today, I do what's in front of me now

I used to be stopping while I was trying

I used to be landing before I was flying

I used to be haunting not just remembering

In the middle of summеr, I was Decembering

Always rе-writing what I was reading

But also doubting what I was conceiving

I used to be dropping when I was collecting

I could have been building, but I was dissecting

Today, I do what's in front of me now

Today, I do what's in front of me

What's in front of me

I do what's in front of me now

I used to be missing when I was kissing

Why wasn't I present? I could have been living

I used to be dodging when I was catching

I used to be dying, I could have been hatching

I used to be drowning when I was drinking

I was only masking, I could have been feeling

You used to surround me whenever you found me

I could have learned more from the friends I had ‘round me

I used to be falling when I was leaning

Catastrophe courting, I could have been dreaming

I was careening, looking for meaning

Wish I was relaxing, I could have been breathing

Today, I do what's in front of me now

Today, I do what's in front of me

What's in front of me

Oh there's too many lanes

There's too much to see in the frame at once

There's too much to contain

I do what's in front of me, in front of me

Oh there's too much terrain

I can never explain it all

It's too much for my brain

I do what's in front of me

What's in front of me

I do what's in front of me

What's in front of me

I do what's in front of me now

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: All right, now, Central Park audience, stay because we have a little extra music for you. On air audience, we're going to do the credits right here and Central Park audience we're going to do the credits right here for the last music because everybody who worked on this deserves their credit, right? So thanks. Thanks. First, to all the musicians you heard tonight, Nada Surf, Laurie Anderson and Sexmob, MxmToon and Freestyle Love Supreme.

[applause]

storytellers Ira Glass and Gabrielle Shea. I was your host along with my colleagues Alison Stewart, John Schaeffer, Brooke Gladstone and Michael Loewinger. Adam Pod accompanied Brooke and Micah's presentation On the Keys. Donwil has been our DJ. Donwil. Tonight's show is produced by Megan Ryan, Jennifer Keeney Sandro and Simon Close. Ricardo Fernandez was our technical director. Our broadcast engineer was Ed Haberdez.

Our production team tonight included Julia Barton, Hippo Charlieu, Eileen Delahunty, Zach Godara Cohen, Marika Hacking, Matthew Maffee, Noriko Okabe, Shawn Iwi, Richard Owens, Bill Siegmund, Eric Weber, George Wellington and Ryan Andrew Wilde. It takes a village, right?

[applause]

Special thanks to WNYC's director of archives, Andy Lancet, to everyone at Summer Stage and the City Parks Foundation for being our partners on this program, to all the hard working staff of WNYC past and present who run this unique and amazing station, and to our members, you keep the station on the air and we thank you.

[applause]

Now, if you missed part of the show or want to hear it again, it will be available on demand as audio and video very soon at wnyc.org/100. That's the same place to find out much more about WNYC Centennial, including a historical timeline, on air specials and upcoming other live events. And much of tonight's event will be rebroadcast on my show, the Brian Lehrer show tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. Sean, why don't you close us out like we're on the radio?

Sean Carlson: My pleasure, Brian. You are listening to WNYC FM HD and AM New York, WNJT FM 88.1 Trenton, WNJP 88.5 Sussex, WNJY 89.3 Netcong, and WNJO 90.3 Toms River. We are New York and New Jersey public Radio. I'm Sean Carlson. Thank you so much for listening. Happy 100th birthday, WMYC.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you all very much. Do you want to hear an encore from Nada Surf?

Sean Carlson: Yes. Give it up for Nada Surf.

[MUSIC - Nada Surf: Popular]

Three important rules for breaking up

Don't put off breaking up when you know you want to

Prolonging the situation only makes it worse

Tell him honestly, simply, kindly, but firmly

Don't make a big production

Don't make up an elaborate story

This will help you avoid a big tear jerking scene

If you wanna date other people say so

Be prepared for the boy to feel hurt and rejected

Even if you've gone together for only a short time,

And haven't been too serious,

There's still a feeling of rejection

When someone says she prefers the company of others

To your exclusive company,

But if you're honest, and direct,

And avoid making a flowery emotional speech when you break the news,

The boy will respect you for your frankness,

And honestly he'll appreciate the kind of straight forward manner

In which you told him your decision

Unless he's a real jerk or a cry baby you will remain friends

'Cause I'm head of the class

I'm popular

I'm a quarter back

I'm popular

My mom says I'm a catch

I'm popular

I'm never last picked

I got a cheerleader chick

Being attractive is the most important thing there is

If you wanna catch the biggest fish in your pond

You have to be as attractive as possible

Make sure to keep your hair spotless and clean

Wash it at least every two weeks

Once every two weeks

And if you see Johnny football hero in the hall

Tell him he played a great game

Tell him you like his article in the newspaper

'Cause I'm the party star

I'm popular

And I've got my own car

I'm popular

I'll never get caught

I'm popular

I'm a teachers pet

I make football bets

I purpose we support a one month limit on going steady

I think It will keep people more able to deal with weird situation

And get to know more people

I think if you're ready to go out with Johnny

Now's the time to tell him about your one month limit

He wont mind he'll appreciate your fresh look on dating

And once you've dated someone else you can date him again

I'm sure he'll like it

Everyone will appreciate it

You're so novel what a good idea

You can keep you time to your self

You don't need date insurance

You can go out with whoever you want to

Every boy, every boy, in the whole world could be yours

If you'll just listen to my plan

THE TEENAGE GUIDE TO POPULARITY

'Cause I'm the head of the class

I'm popular

I'm a quarter back

I'm popular

My mom says I'm a catch

I'm popular

I'm never last picked

I got a cheerleader chick

I'm the party star

I'm popular

And I've got my own car

I'm popular

I'll never get caught

I'm popular

I'm a teachers pet

I make football bets

[applause]

Nada Surf: Man, thank you for staying and thank you for listening. They said we could do one more, so we're gonna do that. It's called Inside of Love.

[MUSIC - Nada Surf: Inside of Love]

Watching terrible tv, it kills all thought

Getting spacier than an astronaut

Making out with people I hardly know or like

I can't believe what I do, late at night

I wanna know what it's like

On the inside of love

I'm standing at the gates

I see the beauty above

Only when we get to see the aerial view

Will the patterns show, we'll know what to do

I know the last page so well, I can't read the first

So I just don't start, it's getting worse

I wanna know what it's like

On the inside of love

I'm standing at the gates

I see the beauty above

I wanna know what it's like

On the inside of love

I can't find my way in

I try again and again

I'm on the outside of love

Always under or above

I can't find my way in

I try again and again

I'm on the outside of love

Always under or above

Must be a different view

To be a me with a you

I wanna know what it's like

On the inside of love

I'm standing at the gates

I see the beauty above

I wanna know what it's like

On the inside of love

Of course I'll be alright

I just had a bad night

I had a bad night

Nada Surf: Thank you so much. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much to WNYC and Central Park.

[applause]

[music]

 

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